You'd think there would be more mentions of this long begotten Dallas, TX artifact, if only due to the fact that bands of
Shallow Reign's chosen persuasion (Paisley Underground) weren't all that ubiquitous, even circa the mid-80s. After some four decades you'd think that the Dream Syndicate, Bangles, Three O'Clock and the Rain Parade were all said niche had to offer, given it's rather narrow anthologizing. Truth is there were likely lots more worthy neo-psych hopefuls in the Reagan-era that simply weren't able to benefit from the widespread exposure of their Cali contemporaries. Not that what Shallow Reign brought to the table was as fresh and/or innovative as the aforementioned, but despite the arguable deficit of originality they compensated in spades with sheer capability and competence.
On their debut LP they genuinely put in their homework, with certain numbers including "Understanding Kiss" and the driving "One Last Chance" veritably rivaling the most convincing missives from not only the Syndicate and Rain Parade, but also lesser spoken of entities Absolute Grey and Winter Hours. They did earn a slot on the Sound of Deep Ellum compilation, yet none of the more Paisley-centric various artist compendiums (including Children of Nuggets, and the more recent This Can't Be Today) bothered to include S/R on their otherwise exhaustive rosters. A very much under-the-radar find, and though I weighed the possibility of saving this one for one of my Chanukah posts, Shallow Reign struck me as being a tad inconsistent to qualify. Eye of the beholder of course, so feel free to share your thoughts after giving this a listen or two. I'm making it available in your choice of MP3 or FLAC.
01. Celtic
02. Understanding Kiss
03. In Your Mind
04. 328 Regret
05. Long Time Ago
06. Forever
07. One Last Chance
08. All Alone
09. Reflection
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